Natural alternatives to weed killers.

Despite living in the desert quite a lot of plants and trees grow and thrive quite well. Especially the weeds, they seem to grow without the need for water.

They seem to have quite a strong root structure to survive these temperatures.

I can't buy weedkiller in Dubai, I also can't find out why it is banned, despite extensive google searching.

So I've been looking into natural alternatives for killing the weeds, fertilising plants and pest control.

I measured 3 tablespoons of white vinegar with 1 litre of water and some dishwasher liquid to help the vinegar solution bind to the weed.

One week later the weeds looked like this.

I'm now spraying the weeds daily with the vinegar solution and hoping that I can eradicate the weeds from the path. I'm going to add a tea spoon of salt to the mixture also, but will be very careful when spraying it, so it doesn't contanimate the grass and other plants in the garden.

Did you know the Greek's and the Roman's used salt to poison the ground as salt renders the soil sterile, ensuring their enemies were incapable of feeding themselves and their families?

Removing ants naturally

We have an ant problem in Dubai.

I'm concerned about the cat and dog in regards to using chemicals to control the ants. Any ant powder I put down outside is either a) blown away or b) washed away by the gardener.

I've been investigating alternative natural remedies for keeping the ants at bay.

Apparently drawing a chalk line around where the ants enter a property will deter them so putting it to the test I drew a chalk circle around an ant. As you can see, it didn't work.

So I've used a mixture of cinnamon powder and water and spayed it around the door frames, which seems to be working for the time being.

I found the entry point for the ants and sprayed it with the cinnamon. 

It didn't work so I'm afraid I was back to using ant powder and they've gone for now.

We've not been out much with Bob this week as it's too hot, he can just about manage the end of the road and back. We did manage to spend Friday morning in the desert at the lakes.

The cat recovered from her heat stroke the other week with no side effects and isn't pestering as much to go out in the day time. As long as she gets regular attention and treats. she's more than happy.